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Alamo Reposado Tequila

Alamo Tequila is a 100 % Agave Tequila from Agaveros y Tequileros Unidos de Los Altos, S.A. de C.V. distillery in Jalsico, Mexico. I received my bottle for review from Ravinder Minhas, of Mcbsw Sales Company Inc. who is the local importer of this spirit in Alberta, where I live. When I tried to research Alamo Tequila and the distillery from which the spirit is produced, I was unable to find out very much information at all. Agaveros y Tequileros Unidos de Los Altos appears to be an independent distillery in Jalisco Mexico who specializes in a small range of tequila.

In the Bottle 4.5/5

I like a nice distinctive bottle on my liquor shelf. You get the idea, something a little unique in bottle shape or maybe something with a little color or even something with some texture to make gripping easier. The Alamo Reposado Tequila bottle has all of the elements I look for right up to a nice solid synthetic cork stopper. My only quibble with the bottle is a lack a few details on the label. I would like to see the name of the distillery which produced the spirit, as well as an indication of whether the tequila is made from Highland or Lowland Agave. (Knowing which style of agave would give me an indication of flavour profile prior to purchase as Lowland tequila tends to be more earthy and highland tequila tends to carry more citrus fruit and peppery spice.)

I should note that the label of the bottle indicates that my bottle number is 8230. This reinforces my opinion that this is a Tequila brand with a relatively small production.

In the Glass 9/10

I poured out a small sample of the Alamo Reposado into my glencairn glass and began my review with a good look at the tequila before I began to nose it. It is a pale straw coloured spirit consistent with a Reposado Tequila which would spend between three and eleven months in oak barrels. I gave my glass a light tilt and a slow swirl and discovered a light sheen of tequila left on the inside of the glass which gave up a few very skinny legs and nothing more. Again this is consistent with expectations and so far I am happy with my observations.

When I brought the glass to my nose I discovered a lightly sweet, mildly punky agave aroma lifting from the glass. It has a fruity smell but it is not a sharp citrus aroma. Rather it is a more of an earthy aroma resembling the scent of fresh cooked young zucchini. I get a few whispers of vanilla and oak with a very subtle scent of coffee and cream in the breezes as well. I like the aroma from the glass very much!

In the Mouth 55.5/60

The tequila has a smooth entry onto the palate with the lightly sweet fruity flavour of agave leading the way. There is a mild peppery element which resembles the light heat of a sweet green bell pepper, and the tequila displays some punky earthiness which resembles the flavour of baked butternut squash. Nothing about the flavours is intense or sharp; everything is lightly sweet and balanced. This means the Alamo Tequila is remarkably easy to sip with the harsh aspects of peppery spice dampened; yet the heart of tequila, the fruity agave remaining to be enjoyed.

Of course I like to mix cocktails, and my go to cocktail for Tequila is the Margarita. In this case the lime juice and the Grand Marnier worked very well together with the Alamo Reposado in a cocktail that was thoroughly enjoyable. I could not resist building more of a sipping cocktail as well (see recipe below for Maximiliano Tequila), and again the result was a stellar cocktail I would serve to any guest. I must admit to being very pleased and surprised by the quality which I have discovered in the Alamo Reposado tequila.

In the Throat 14/15

That smooth entry I mentioned above is followed by a wonderful smooth exit. There is a little spicy pepper in the finish, but the back of the throat is warmed not assaulted. Hints of creamed coffee and a little bit of sweet agave complete the finish of the Alamo Reposado Tequila which is remarkably easy to sip.

The Afterburn 9.5/10

When I contacted Ravinder Minhas, of Mcbsw Sales, my motive for contacting him was to ask about his Canadian Whisky (Chinook) which I wanted to review here on my website. I had no intention of asking about his Alamo Tequila, and in fact when I was informed that I was to be sent a bottle each of the Reposado and the Anejo, I will be honest and admit I was not overly enthusiastic. I had never heard of the brand, nor of any of the other brands produced by the distillery, Agaveros y Tequileros Unidos de Los Altos. However, I kept an open mind, and now I am glad that I did. The Alamo Reposado has turned out to be a great tasting Tequila!

You may read some of my other Tequila Reviews (click the link) if you wish to have some comparative reviews.

Suggested Recipe

I will start with that sipping cocktail I made during my tasting sessions with the Alamo Reposado, a cocktail I have recommended before called Maximiliano Tequila. This cocktail goes down, just plain nice!

Maximiliano Tequila

1 1/2 ounces of Tequila Añejo
3/4 ounces of Grand Marnier.

Serve in a suitable glass with no ice
Allow the cocktail oxidize for about 5 minutes
Garnish with a twist of orange peel.

Protected by Copy-write

I am also going to suggest a new recipe of mine called A Purple Place for Dying. This cocktail continues my series of Tequila cocktails named after the Travis McGee novels of American author John D. MacDonald. I have always like the Travis McGee novels, and the titles of these novels just seem to me to be particularly well suited to be also the names of great cocktails.

0-25 A spirit with a rating this low would actually kill you.
26-49 Depending upon your fortitude you might actually survive this.
50 -59 You are safe to drink this…but you shouldn’t.
60-69 Substandard swill which you may offer to people you do not want to see again.
70-74 Now we have a fair mixing Tequila. Accept this but make sure it is mixed into a cocktail.
75-79 You may begin to serve this to friends, (we are probably still cocktail in territory).
80-84 We begin to enjoy this spirit neat or on the rocks. (I will still primarily mix cocktails)
85-89 Excellent for sipping or for mixing delicious cocktails!
90-94 Definitely a primary sipping spirit, in fact you may want to hoard this for yourself.
95-97.5 The Cream of the Crop
98+ I haven’t met this bottle yet…but I want to.

Very loosely we may put my scores into terms that you may be familiar with on a Gold, Silver, and Bronze medal scale as follows:

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10 Responses to “Alamo Reposado Tequila”

Andrew Bsaid

I’m sad to see that this tequila is being discontinued. I’ve tried all sorts of tequilas from lowly Jose Cuervo all the way up to Herencia, Avion, Patron and Don Julio. Nothing (except maybe for Patron Anejo) even comes close to the smoothness of Alamo. I’m a fan of shooting, not sipping, and without doubt this is truly the greatest shooting beverage I’ve ever experienced in my life.

Fortunately, the local liquor store was clearing out their remaining stock and I was able to get 9 bottles at a clearance price. 🙂

erichsaid

Actually… in my opinion no. If you check out my tequila reviews you will find I scored the Alamo Reposado much higher. I liked it better as a sipper and as a mixer. Tequila is quite a different spirit from Whisky or Rum and the aged Tequila is not necessarily better than the unaged.

I find it curious that reps aren’t providing you with the background info you need to write the review of the products they are supposed to be shilling..

You might want to start adding pricing info, when you know it – part of any purchase I make is a price to (perceived) value comparison, and I don’t think I’m alone on this one. It’s all well and good to say the stuff is good, but some understanding of the cost is useful info as well, don’t you think? Even if some guy from Autralia is reading this, he’ll understand its relative level. Your thoughts?

I found it curious that I was provided with so little information, but to be honest I am a little ambivalent towards this. It is almost impossible to verify information provided by reps anyway, so sometimes when you receive information you do not know whether to publish it. I am not sure anyway, how much that background information would have added to the layman’s appreciation of the review. I like to think that my readers are more concerned with how I believe the spirit tastes than with the background information. I do agree it would be nice if this information was always provided honestly to me to pass on but you and I both know that this is a bit of a pipe dream. (It may be the case that this particular company did not want to tamper with the review process by sending me the press kit full of glowing advertising speak.)

As for pricing information, my own opinion is that it is is misleading to include comments about price versus value in the review. I make the assumption that my reader can make his own price versus value assessment based upon the score I assign. The only place that price has an impact on my review is in the presentation category where more expensive spirits are judged more harshly. Everywhere else, my review makes no account for price. If I score a $20.00 spirit a 92, and a $100.00 spirit a 84. This means that I prefer the 20 buck spirit even if I could get the more expensive spirit at the same price.

I should point out that I have also seen such wide variations in price right here in Alberta. As an Example, I bought a bottle of Glenmorangie Nectar Dor for 54 bucks the other day. The same spirit was available for 149 bucks at a liquor store down the street from me. How can anyone make a rational statement about price with such a variation happening in the same city. Also because of skewed taxation systems where local products are taxed a different rates than imported products in most jurisdictions, and where import costs and taxation costs can easily dwarf the cost of the actual spirit, the usefulness of price in the review process to me is questionable.

I expect the reader of the review to figure out for himself what price level he is willing to pay for each score on my blog.